Mark National Health Center Week August 9-15

The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) sponsors National Health Center Week every year, and for 2020, this commemoration is August 9-15. The week is designed to raise awareness about the mission and accomplishments of the country’s health centers, which NACHC defines as helping to “increase access to crucial primary care by reducing barriers such as cost, lack of insurance, distance, and language for their patients,” among other goals.

This year’s theme is “Community Health Centers: Lighting the Way for Healthier Communities Today and in the Future.” 2020’s commemoration honors front-line healthcare providers, staff, and patients who have lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the beginning of the crisis, community health centers began finding innovative ways to provide preventative and primary care to their patients.

NACHC suggests lighting a candle during the week under the theme of “lighting the way” as a means of remembering community health leaders and patients who have died and of celebrating the future of community health.

Patient Appreciation Day

NACHC has also designated focus areas for each day of Health Center Week. Of particular interest to the primary care community may be Wednesday, August 12: Patient Appreciation Day. NACHC encourages you to consider coordinating your celebrations around the corresponding dates and focus days to showcase the innovative ways that health centers are providing high-quality health care, improving health outcomes, and narrowing health disparities. Your events do not have to coincide exactly with the focus of respective days. Much like the week’s theme, focus days are available to enhance your events and help provide structure at your discretion. Coordinating local efforts around the themes of the focus days helps maximize the national impact of the message.

Help for Marking the Week

NACHC provides many tools and resources in these areas:

to help you mark this week. Associations and primary care practices may want to connect with local health centers and state and regional primary care associations to develop activities to build awareness and support for health centers. National Health Center Week is a great time to connect with local health centers and spread the word about them and the good work they are doing for your community. Marking it can bring light to the health needs in our communities and the shared stake we all have in a community’s health.

Go to top